What About Your Friends?

What about your friends will they stand their ground Will they let you down again What about your friends are they gonna be low down

Will they ever be around or will they turn their backs on you

-TLC (1992)

Friends.

Sometimes I hate them, I swear I do.

I am extremely tight with all of my real friends, meaning the people I have run with through the good and the bad. But I am an all-out kind of friend and always have been. So, for as long as I can remember, I have almost always gotten into fights because of my friends. When they are in a fight, I am in! Most times, I don't need to know if they are right or not.

But, we don't fight any more - not those physical confrontations at least.

We are embroiled in a different fight and that is the fight of life. So, I am wondering about my friends commitment to this fight. My friends are like family (and much of my family are like friends) and the reality is - I need THEM the way they have needed me. However, when I have called them for something, many of them are straight up bums. Like, my boy Terrone, he couldn't find the time to help me move. Movers cost a good chunk of change and a few of the homies can offset that cost easily. I have been trying to link with my boy Water for the longest time, just so our kids can know each other. But, dude keeps talking about "this is a bad month" and crying over work. Crying about work forever? Never having a moment for friends or relaxation. I think he's slowly degraded into human trash, definitely not the nice, outgoing dude I once knew.

On the other side, I have never had these issues with my female friends. I mean, I don't hang out with them too much, because that may cause another set of issues in my home. Typically, as friends, women are very reliable. Now, if I ask them to help me move some sofas and junk, they may not fare so well in the test. For some reason, when you get outside of the friend-zone with women, all of this support deteriorates. Maybe they are on their best behavior, looking for a chance with "The Good Guy." (LMAO)

Now, I have had so-called friend that I don't considered friends at all anymore. These are the slimy dudes that tried to screw my girl behind my back. I didn't even beat him down. I cut him off and dropped my ex for not telling me. Then there is the female friend that WAS secretly trying to get with me so she decided it was a good idea to send my girl (at that time) a bunch of crazy mess to break us up. The damage was done, but she didn't get me so she lost too. Those weren't friends. Those people were life experiences, mere footnotes in my personal history.

My friends have been there for a long time, but I feel like I'm in a pal recession to accompany the one the nation is reeling from. What next? Not sure. I'm loyal but I may have to talk to these folks on some corny s**t. I need to make my point clear, so that if I have to cut people off, there is no mystery. I don't know if this means anything to anybody else, but I am going to pass off to TLC, who I have been listening to with regards to this matter.

TLC "What About Your Friends"

Whodini - "Friends" (for fun)

Good Guy aka Everyman is a columnist on AllHipHop.com and his columns appear every Thursday or when he sends them over. Of course his views are not necessarily that of AllHipHop.com, but secretly wish we had a big chain.